Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from the Elden Ring

Rome, Italy, the Gattuso family's research institute.

Unlike the equipment department at the main campus of Kassel College, the main building of the research institute is not hidden deep in the mountains, but located in the suburbs. On the surface, it is an ordinary biosafety level 4 laboratory, and even has project cooperation with the government. If the power of hybrids controls a lot of political and economic resources, then the Gattuso family is one of the best, able to easily influence local policy, so they naturally do not need to worry about the secrecy of their family institutions.

Beneath the biological laboratory lies a fortress-like research institute built with advanced technologies from multiple fields, including biology, genetics, mechanical engineering, computer science, and materials science. It is equipped with multiple physical and electronic security access control systems, 24-hour video surveillance, and emergency response mechanisms.

Deep within this fortress, the project codenamed "Project Nibelungen" is nearing its end, with the subject being Caesar Gattuso, the young master of the Gattuso family.

During the experiment, the acting head of the family, Frost, and the family secretary, Percy, were present throughout. Through the thick glass wall, they could see the progress of Caesar's surgery, fusion, enhancement, and recovery phases. Surrounding this core laboratory were various biological and alchemical experimental areas. The most elite researchers in the institute used all kinds of incredibly expensive tools and instruments, some of which had not yet been made public, just to safely and stably apply the precious serum to the future head of the family.

Frost only knew that Caesar had argued with the elders at the Pantheon, but he didn't know the details.

After that, Caesar took Nono, who was attending class at Kassel College, and the two took an international flight to Lu Mingfei's hometown, where they once again experienced what appeared to be the Dragon King's resurrection.

After that incident, Caesar returned to academy life, but lost contact with the academy a month ago while carrying out an A-level mission. He disappeared for a whole week, and no one knew what happened during that week. After Caesar returned, he went to the Pantheon and met with the elders in the Hall of Azures, where he agreed to the family's "Nibelungen Plan".

Frost was also puzzled by the project's technical progress. In the last report, the researchers said that three of the five Class A hybrids who received large doses of injections were degenerating into Deadpools. Then, not long ago, they received good news: the technical obstacles were overcome overnight, and the experiment was so perfect in verifying the theory that it did not even require further observation.

He had a vague feeling that another force within the family was guiding Caesar through this "evolution."

He had held Pompeii's seat on the board of trustees for fifteen years, and for those fifteen years he had always believed he held absolute power and had a keen understanding of the affairs of the family and the college. Only today did he realize that the family structure was like an onion, with layer after layer, and outsiders could never see the truth—and he was that "outsider."

Caesar opened his eyes. He had been in a daze for days. The Nibelungen Project was not as simple as injecting some kind of evolutionary agent into his body. Before receiving the first injection, the researchers in white coats almost disassembled his body. During a heart surgery, the surgeon actually asked him to keep his blood gushing for 15 minutes to improve safety.

In short, this series of transformations was extremely painful. Several times Caesar felt that he had one foot in the grave, but he persevered.

This was all because, after the battle with Odin, he had a private conversation with Lu Mingfei. He asked only one question: Could wielding the power of a god change the entire world?

Lu Mingfei sat down with a smile, took out the branch manager's treasured wine, and then told him a story.

The protagonist of the story is named Alexander, who is a warrior's jar that holds the corpses of soldiers on the battlefield. The souls of the corpses inside the jar enter dreams, and the jar gains power from this, displaying the dreams to these corpses. Influenced by the dreams of the warriors' corpses, Alexander aspired to become a hero from a young age. This dream also supported him to leave the jar village when he grew up and go out to hone himself.

Alexander heard that a battle celebration was to be held in distant Galid and thought it would be a good opportunity to hone his skills. So he traveled alone through Nymgford to Galid, where he met Lu Mingfei, who was recruited by the witch Lani and was traveling with "Half-Wolf" Blazer.

After some twists and turns, the group reunited in Red Lion City to participate in a battle festival to defeat the demigod "General Shattered Star" Rataen.

As the most powerful hero in the Broken War, Rataen has surpassed Alexander's capabilities. Just like a hybrid challenging the Dragon King, Alexander did not back down and fought bravely, but he was inevitably beaten until the pot cracked and its contents leaked out. Even his confidence as a warrior pot was shaken.

Just as Caesar felt powerless and desperate in the face of Jormungandr, watching Chu Zihang die and then have his neck broken.

Fortunately, the Warrior Jar can repair itself and collect the corpses of warriors to become stronger. Alexander did not give up on his dream. He made a promise to Lu Mingfei, "I will become stronger. Please look forward to the moment we meet again. Wahahaha."

After that, Alexander sought a way to become stronger and used the lava of the volcano to temper his body. At that time, Lu Mingfei had just escaped from the Boiling River and was being chased around by a lava dragon wielding a large sword by the lava pool of the Gemir volcano. Unexpectedly, he met Alexander again when he hid behind a rock.

Upon their reunion, the two were like old friends. Lu Mingfei received a hood as a gift from Alexander, symbolizing their friendship, and learned that Alexander was going to the cauldron of fire atop Mount Giant in search of even hotter flames.

By chance, the two later met on the top of Giant's Mountain. After defeating the fire giant together, they followed the storm to the storm city of Famyazra.

However, the pot could not escape its fate of destruction. Alexander, who had experienced a fierce battle, had reached his limit. He witnessed Lu Mingfei defeat Ratan and the fire giant and recognized Lu Mingfei as a true warrior and hero. So he asked Lu Mingfei, who was a powerful warrior, to be his final test.

The story ends abruptly here, without the perfection and completeness Caesar had imagined. It's like a man who has exerted all his strength but has fallen before the vastness of the world; Alexander, who dreamed of becoming a hero, has fallen.

"...I still can't reach that level. With my current abilities, I can't do it... Thank you, you truly are the hero I've chosen. This battle was incredibly exciting. Please accept the contents within me. The jar cannot escape its fate of destruction, but I, Alexander, will remain the Warrior Jar until the very last moment! Wahahahaha." The Warrior Jar, Alexander, shattered amidst loud laughter.

“Caesar, no one starts out with their destiny firmly under their feet. Even now, I cannot guarantee success against future enemies, but until the very last moment, I will be the warrior Lu Mingfei.” Lu Mingfei said softly, “This is my answer to you. I have read your file. Your virtues are inherited from your mother. You seem somewhat lost now.”

He stretched out his hand, and a small rock-like pot appeared out of thin air. "You know, the way a pot shows friendship is very special. It gives you a pot head cover as a promise to take the corpse into its body. Because the contents of the pot are carefully selected, it is a sign that it highly approves of you and has established a deep friendship with you. Now, are you willing to accept my approval and blessing?"

Caesar gazed at the small handmade object and slowly reached out to take it.

……

Since that conversation, Caesar was no longer confused, and he had his own answer to his mother's words, "My Caesar is a kind child... but the world is so cruel, what use is your kindness alone?"

Weakness, anger, and resentment—these "gifts" bestowed upon him by Jormungandr quietly shattered.

The world is cruel, which is why it is necessary to become a warrior. You can do anything, you can endure anything, whether it's crawling among corpses on the battlefield, being immersed in scalding lava, or undergoing physical modifications... If you can die on the way forward, you are worthy of the name of a warrior.

In the brightly lit laboratory, Caesar slowly clenched his fist.

……

Xia Mi, far across the ocean, sneezed, frowned, and rubbed her nose. "Old Tang, did you add pepper?"

"No, if you want pepper flavor, I'll improve it next time..." Old Tang shrugged.

"No need, I was just saying." Xia Mi pinched her chin suspiciously. "I feel like someone is talking about me behind my back."

(End of this volume)

Chapter 176 Japan

"The 17th time of the Fifth Degree Blood Burst Experiment, lasting 1386 seconds. Question: Did you experience any hallucinations before losing consciousness?"

"none."

"Do you experience negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, or bloodlust?"

"slight."

"name?"

"Chu Zihang".

"identity?"

"Special Executive Officer of Kassel College, concurrently serving as President of the Lionheart Society."

"Sexual orientation?"

Chu Zihang frowned, but still answered seriously, "Opposite sex."

Fingel nodded and scribbled in the file. "Junior brother, your physical fitness and reaction speed have slightly surpassed that of an S-rank from decades ago. After you were exhausted this time, were there any changes in the dream you entered?"

Chu Zihang shook his head. "The sea stretches to the horizon, the sun sets in all directions at the same time, and the afterglow is as red as if the sky is burning. I am immersed in the seawater, and the seawater is warm."

“In the Secret Society’s records, the hybrids who have fallen into the Deadpool generally see bloody and dark things. More than three testimonies show that they saw a black sea, and the pleasure of death and killing overwhelmed them like a black wave.” Fingel closed the file. “You, on the other hand, even if you reach the extreme of bloodlust, you only had a dream of taking a bath.”

Chu Zihang was drenched in sweat. He wiped the sweat from his face with a towel. “It’s not the ultimate… There’s something beyond the fifth degree of blood explosion, but I can’t reach it. The limit of my dragon blood ratio is the fifth degree. If I force it to the sixth degree, my blood might boil.”

"Alright, alright, stop showing off." Fingel waved his hand. "There hasn't been a single guy like you who managed to win over Little Dragon Girl in centuries."

Chu Zihang: ...

They were located on a small island in the South Pacific, a vacation spot arranged by Su Enxi. Because of the sparse population, Lu Mingfei had Fingel give Chu Zihang intensive Blood Explosion training. After being possessed by Jormungandr, Chu Zihang's Blood Explosion level had reached an astonishing fifth tier, and under full power, he might not lose to an ordinary second-generation species.

On the beach, the original sandy shore of this deserted island was actually a rocky beach covered with sharp reefs overgrown with seaweed and shellfish. The estuary of the island's stream was even covered by densely rooted shrubs. The island's owner was originally an international movie star. After buying the island, he built a villa and an airport, then cleared away the reefs and shrubs, and airlifted in fine beach sand to create a beautiful artificial beach.

Lu Mingfei sat on the beach, with fruit and whiskey on the table beside him, and a small doll resembling Melina on another chair.

After the Battle of Odin, Lu Mingfei brought back the shattered fragments of Gungnir. After careful study, he confirmed that the material itself had become inactive, leaving only its properties of hardness and lightness. He decided to use them all to complete Melina's doll. Now, Melina no longer needs to borrow his power to stay in the doll for a long time.

"Hey, junior brother." Fingel came over carrying a bunch of ingredients. "Hello, Melina."

For some reason, Fingel had an extraordinary respect for Melina.

"We're having an outdoor barbecue again today?" Lu Mingfei said. "And did you bring all the ingredients from our freezer? That's a three-day supply."

Fingel didn't answer, but instead held up five fingers, "Five, four, three, two, one..."

As his countdown ended, Lu Mingfei's phone rang right on time. "Mingfei, are you free?"

It was Angers. For almost half a year, Angers rarely made this call. The resurgence of dragons, after bronze and fire, earth and mountains, and Odin, seemed to have been put on pause. The world entered a brief period of peace, and the students of Kassel College once again had their internships occupied by archaeology and patrols.

"I'm heading to headquarters now; it'll only take 10 hours by plane."

“You don’t need to come to headquarters. Norma has already sent you the information. It’s data processed by the Equipment Department and some classified documents. Take a look before you make a decision,” Angers said calmly. “If there are no problems, I will arrange for the relevant departments to coordinate.”

After hanging up the phone, Lu Mingfei glanced at Fingel, who was arranging ingredients with Chu Zihang, leisurely piecing together the shrimp tails to form a uniform circle of shrimp meat.

Lu Mingfei returned to his room in the villa, turned on his computer, and sure enough, there was an email from Angers in his inbox. He opened the attachment, and an audio recording played automatically.

It seemed to be just the sound of the sea breeze, but Lu Mingfei also heard a deep, resonant sound in the sea breeze, boom boom, boom boom, boom boom... Its rhythm was so strong and distinct. Once you noticed this strong rhythm in the sound of the wind, you were drawn to it. The sound of the sea breeze gradually faded away, and the deep, resonant sound became more and more obvious, boom boom, boom boom, boom boom, like a tattooed barbarian on an ancient battlefield beating a war drum.

Lu Mingfei was familiar with this sound; there was a similar heartbeat in the Greenland incident data, and Lu Mingfei had retrieved backup data from the Equipment Department's database.

To this day, he has heard the heartbeat of the humanoid dragon king and the dragon body dragon king, but the recorded heartbeat is clearly different from the former two, perhaps from a young dragon or even an embryo.

The additional information provided by Angers details the origin of this heartbeat sound.

Several years ago, among the many projects at Kassel College in the search for traces of dragons, one was about the Soviet icebreaker "Lenin". Lu Mingfei's gaze swept over the majestic giant icebreaker in the black and white photograph, with its white hull and black bridge, and a red five-pointed star embedded in the bow.

The decorated warship "Lenin" was the world's first nuclear-powered icebreaker, originally belonging to the Soviet Northern Fleet. During its service, it received numerous awards and accolades, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it quietly disappeared from the Northern Fleet's fleet. Its records abruptly end on December 25, 1991, and the Northern Fleet made no attempt to track it down, as if someone had erased this steel behemoth from the world with an eraser.

According to information obtained by the executive branch, on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Lenin actually disobeyed orders from the Northern Fleet and made a secret voyage towards Japanese waters. Approaching Japanese territorial waters, it sent out a distress signal, but sank to the bottom of the sea before Japanese Self-Defense Force rescue ships arrived.

In his investigation, Schneider concluded that the Lenin carried forbidden items related to the dragon civilization.

The deep sea, shipwrecks, the heartbeat of dragons... it's too similar to the Greenland incident. This is an open conspiracy. A target that may be Gu Long is reviving. Lu Mingfei and the Secret Party, upon learning the news, cannot remain indifferent.

Lu Mingfei returned to the beach, where Fingel had already started a barbecue feast.

"Get your luggage ready, we're leaving for Japan tomorrow."

Chapter 177 Undercurrents

Chu Zihang had no objection. When he was included in the list of special executive officers by Angers, he already knew that the only person in charge was Lu Mingfei. In addition, Lu Mingfei rescued a bone from Odin's Nibelungen that was suspected to be "that man's" bone. He would not object to obeying Lu Mingfei's orders, both morally and logically.

“Junior brother, I’m afraid I can’t do it,” Fingel raised his hand in objection.

"Tell me the reason."

“Norma has made some progress in tracking the ‘Hunter Market,’ so I’m going to Russia to investigate.” Fingel scratched his head. “And I’ll also ask you for some funding for this trip, junior brother.”

Fingel had demonstrated extremely high authority over Norma, the secretary of the academy, and had been searching for the "Hunter Website" and the "Prince" in the online world. Lu Mingfei had always tacitly allowed him to investigate this important clue. Unexpectedly, with the reappearance of dragon heartbeats in the deep sea, the "Hunter Market" also revealed its true colors.

Lu Mingfei thought for a moment, "You write the funding application, I'll sign it for you, and then Norma can submit it to Professor Manstein."

"Junior brother, you're so brave!" Fingel clapped. "I wish you a successful trip to Japan... Junior brother, you don't need to be too nervous. It's been more than half a year since any dragons have jumped out. Even if there are one or two ignorant little minions, there won't be any danger."

Lu Mingfei neither confirmed nor denied it. He could indeed easily defeat ordinary first-generation beings, but the enemies in the shadows were also aware of this. He always felt that this series of events was strange.

……

The torrential rain lashed the roof, water cascading down the lintel and overturning the eaves, the rushing sound drowning out everything else. A young man with an umbrella waded through the water, pushed open the door, and found an elderly woman in a plain kimono sitting at the table brewing sake, cups already prepared for her guest.

"sit down."

The young man took a sip of liquor. "I received a message from the branch that people from the main campus have arrived."

"To be precise, it was news last night. All we know is that the principal sent an elite team to Japan, perhaps for something from the depths of the trench," the old man said. "But we can't get any details. The people at the Ganryu Research Institute contacted the equipment department at headquarters, but they were also unaware of it. In other words, this team may not have received technical support from the academy."

The young man pondered for a moment: "Perhaps they didn't come for the trench incident?"

“I’m not entirely sure either, but as soon as I learned that ‘there might be dragon embryos in the Japan Trench,’ Angers sent people here. It’s hard to believe they’re not involved.” The old man pulled a folder from beside the stove and handed it to the young man: “These are resumes from headquarters. There are three people on this business trip to Japan. They’re supposedly Angers’ top team, and they’re not going to use them easily.”